Ireland have been handed a boost ahead of their 2021 Guinness Six Nations campaign getting underway, with lock Iain Henderson declaring himself fit to play and ready to go.
Henderson injured his knee ligaments during Autumn Nations Cup and hasn’t played a competitive game of rugby since early December while rehabbing.
But he still earned a call-up to Andy Farrell’s squad for the 2021 Championship and successfully came through a weekend training session ahead of the Round 1 clash against Wales in Cardiff on Sunday.
“I feel great,” explained Henderson. “I want to give a massive thanks to all the physios and medics who have got me back to where I am now.
“It’s been a tough two or three weeks but we’ve been taking it session by session and it’s nice to get a hit out this weekend.”
Ireland trained against Ulster over the weekend, with the Guinness PRO14 side not having had a match themselves since January 9.
Henderson is one of a number of Ulster players in the Ireland squad who faced their provincial teammates, while others from the club side were keen to impress Farrell with an eye on a potential international call-up in the future.
And the 58-cap second-rower believes the joint training session paid dividends and brought something different to camp.
“It’s really nice to train against a team that doesn’t know exactly what you’re doing,” added Henderson.
“It’s great to get some outside perspective on how your plays would run against a side who don’t know what’s coming. That’s huge.
“There’s a lot of guys in there (for Ulster) who might be vying for a place in the Irish squad and it gives them an opportunity to put their hand up and show Andy Farrell what they’re made of.”
